David Sedaris s ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art, (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book. Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris s sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from a writer worth treasuring (Seattle Times). Praise for...

#Self-Absorption Driven to Laughter (2008-11-19) Laugh at yourself and the whole world laughs with you. It s hard to write humorous essays that stand the test of time. Will Rogers realized that and just read the newspaper to audiences while adding an occasionally wry quip to get huge laughs. Put those messages into a book, and they wouldn t have lasted. I haven t heard David Sedaris perform in person (which he does as readings), but I m told he s marvelous. If you have had that pleasure, you will undoubtedly hear his voice, know his timing, and see his expressions as you read this...

#Amazing (2008-11-19) I just love David Sedaris, plain and simple. Also, because I bought this book the book store owner said I had good taste and let me have half off on my purchases for the day.

#Not his best, but still fantastic (2008-11-18) Once again, Sedaris manages to plumb the depths of his adolescence and later life to turn the minutiae and absurdity of life into comedic genius. It s not as good as some of his earlier stuff, but you ll still walk away happy you read it.

#If you like Sedaris, you like Sedaris (2008-11-14) David Sedaris is without a doubt the most talented essayist in the country and the fact that he s also the most famous is not so much a validation of American taste as it is a validation of the Gevalia Kaffe/Sunday New York Times/All Things Considered/This American Life Podcast crowd. Good job! They re good at picking humorists and squeezing African-Americans out of Harlem. Personally I prefer to read Sedaris than listen to audio tapes. His voice, I think, actual detracts from the situations. As in previous books When You Are En...

#Sedaris s best yet (2008-11-11) I am familiar with several David Sedaris works and I enjoy his occasional New York column. Most of which are extremely enjoyable to read (I didn t care for Barrel Fever). This book contains many short stories from David s life, written in a very relatable and humorous manner. David s works are some of the easiest reads I ve ever encountered, and his candor is really disarming. Reading his stories makes me feel like I know his family personally, and the writing all the more endearing because of it. Anybody who has ever thought their family was ...

THE EAGERLY AWAITED COLLECTION OF PERSONAL ESSAYS FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MY HORIZONTAL LIFEWhen Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea s world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense. In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she s convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn s daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her...only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herse...

#Hilarity at its finest! (2008-11-20) If you can read this book without constantly laughing out loud, you have no sense of humor. This book is great!

#funny! (2008-11-18) this book was highly addictive. it was an easy read and kept me laughing. chelsea is absolutely wonderful and i recommend this book for anyone who loves her and anyone who is curious about her. this book gives a lot of insight into chelsea s personality

#hilarious (2008-11-16) This book is amazing. Her antidotes are so outrageous and funny. It is a really good way to juxtapose a stressful life by reading a few pages.

#Kathy Griffin on ludes (2008-11-14) I almost didn t buy this book because The New York Times review mentioned Kathy Griffin. The everywoman spirit of Kathy Griffin is what s quoted on Amazon but I remember the wording slightly differently. Rest assured Chelsea Handler is nothing like Kathy Griffin. Or Sarah Silverman. Or Tina Fey. It s like the NYT tried to just drop in every comedy it girl it could think of. Get a thesaurus. Of people. Chelsea is a comedian and her essays don t scuttle even as close to the thought-provoking tree as, say, David Sedaris. I have to admit...

#I HEART CHELSEA! (2008-11-10) this is honestly the funniest book i have ever read. i was at home by myself laughing histerically! i have even bought a couple for gifts. i absolutely LOVED it!

When New York Times bestselling author and comedian Jim Norton isn t paying for massages with happy endings, or pretending to be fooled by transsexuals he picks up, he spends his time wondering what certain people would look like on fire...What do Heather Mills, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and Dr. Phil have in common? Jim Norton hates their guts. And he probably hates yours, too, especially if you re a New York Yankee, Starbucks employee, or Steve Martin.In thirty-five hilarious essays, New York Times bestselling author and comedian Jim Norton spews bile on the people he loathes. Enjoy his blistering attacks on Derek Jeter, Hillary Clinton, fatso Al Roker, and mush-mouthed Jesse Jackson. It s utterly hilarious -- and utterly relatable if you ve ever bitten a stranger s face or thrown a bottle through the TV screen while watching the news.But don t think Jim just dishes loads of shit on his self-proclaimed enemies, he is equally atrocious to himself. He savages himself for his humiliating...

#Riveting! (2008-11-23) Another literary landmark by this author. His personal take on several cerebral subjects will have you re-thinking the way you live your life. Filled with passion, insight and banality, James Norton is on his way to becoming a legendary author ala Twain, Dumas, Stevenson and dare I say Vos. It astounds me how this author has the time to write such stimulating books while contributing to the popular syndicated radio po-gram Norton and Friends. Amazing!I did not just like this book. . . I LOVED IT!

#Master Poo (2008-11-23) I s likes to read this book whiles dropping a deuce. Keeps me at home so s I don t gets anymores parking tickets. Bowing to the Master! Happy Birthday Jimmy!

#AWESOME BOOK!! (2008-11-23) Jimmy Norton is the best! He is honest, funny and keeps the reader engaged throughout the duration of I Hate Your Guts. His straight talking honesty and plain language is reminiscent of the late Carlin yet totally unique in it s on right as only Jimmy can do. Pick up this book - you won be disa

#Jim Norton I hate your guts (2008-11-23) Little Jimmy Norton can use big words . But not to many . He hits the nail on the head (Tee Hee). He say s what we are all thinking, but it is too PC to say . So buy this book and you might learn something .

#i hate your guts (2008-11-23) lil jimmy norton is awesome. he is a true american hero who understands how americans think.

Congratulations--just by looking at this webpage, you became 25% more patriotic.From Stephen Colbert, the host of television s highest-rated punditry show The Colbert Report, comes the book to fill the other 23¿ hours of your day. I Am America (And So Can You!) contains all of the opinions that Stephen doesn t have time to shoehorn into his nightly broadcast.Dictated directly into a microcassette recorder over a three-day weekend, this book contains Stephen s most deeply held knee-jerk beliefs on The American Family, Race, Religion, Sex, Sports, and many more topics, conveniently arranged in chapter form.Always controversial and outspoken, Stephen addresses why Hollywood is destroying America by inches, why evolution is a fraud, and why the elderly should be harnessed to millstones. You may not agree with everything Stephen says, but at the very least, you ll understand that your differing opinion is wrong.I Am America (And So Can You!) showcases Stephen Colbert at his most eloquent a...

#This was a great book! (2008-11-23) This was a great book! I highly recommend it! Have fun![. . . . ]Merry Christmas!!!

#I was sad to see this book end! (2008-11-18) This book is incredibly hilarious, if you get Stephen Colbert s type of humor. If you like his show, you ll love this book. His tongue-in-cheek, extreme rightwing pundit character is just as politically incorrect as ever, and just so so funny. Complete with his opinion everywhere, including in the margins, it encompasses everything we love about The Colbert Report. Aside from a few distracting typos (which, according to one sentence in the end of the book, may or may not have been put there on purpose), I found this an easy read and unb...

#disappointment (2008-11-16) I love Stephen and his show, but his book is too boring. I couldn t finish it.

#So far so good.... (2008-10-04) Read the first few chapters and it is very Stephen Colbert. Whitty, funny, in depth, blunt. . . good book so far

#Funny book (2008-10-03) Good price and got what I ordered. The book is funny. Not very informative but an easy read and great way to pass time

Hot on the heels of the #1 bestsellers The Onion s Our Dumb Century and Jon Stewart s America comes The Areas of My Expertise, the brilliant and uproarious #15 bestseller (i.e., a runaway phenomenon in its own right-no, seriously)-a lavish compendium of handy reference tables, fascinating trivia, and sage wisdom-all of it completely unresearched, completely undocumented and (presumably) completely untrue, fabricated by the illuminating, prodigious imagination of John Hodgman, certifiable genius.

#Don t read in public (2008-11-15) Areas of My Expertise is hilarious. It meanders at a wonderful pace. I joke with my kids about hobos, so I ve read some of the hobo passages and hobo names to them. My only complaint is that you shouldn t read it in public, as laughing like a maniac on the subway is frowned on at 6:00am. I can imagine that Hodgeman was beat up or ridiculed in middle school by the other kids, as he was probably geeky and somewhat obtuse then, too. The fact that he didn t conform is to his credit. He is who he is, and this book is a lot of fun.

#Rubbish :( (2008-11-13) This is simply the worst book I ve bought in a long time. I didn t find it remotely funny. Previously I ve bought other books by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and found them to be hilarious so I expected this to contain the same kind of clever satire that the other two authors have used to great effect. Instead I get a list of a couple of hundred hobo names and a phases of the moon chart for werewolf transformations. Seriously, I appreciate that you ve done some ads for Apple and get a semi-regular stint on the Daily Show but this is just cack. Awful,...

#Brilliant from start to finish (2008-11-03) I will try to be as unbiased as possible, but it should be known that John Hodgman cut my face with a broken bottle during a disagreement over whether one should be allowed to flip over any Scrabble tile and then consider it to be a blank. He was down 754-30, and tensions were high. I take some responsibility for provoking Mr. Hodgman with sing-song nursery rhymes intended to raise questions about his virility and ancestry. That said, this book is one of the best-conceived, fully realized humor tours de force I have ever read. Even parts ...

#The more education you have, the funnier this book gets ! (2008-10-22) Short and simple, the more that you hang around professional academics the funnier this book gets. Both the book and audiobook remind me of evenings with long-winded professors who phase in and out of reality as their lecture grows longer and less likely to be of any use to any sane and normal person. I honestly believe that if people don t get the humor in this book, try hanging around a post-graduate literature department . . . (or the local Starbucks where many literary academics end up working). The weaving o...

#The Areas of My Expertise (2008-09-13) I read this book on the plane from Ohio to LAX and could not stop laughing, other passengers were looking at me in confusion. When reading this masterpiece, you either get it or you don t. . .